SEFER SHA’AREI ZION AND OTHER KABBALISTIC TREATISES, MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER Nathan Nata Hannover Turin, 1695 Scribe:Abraham Samson ben Israel Levi Fubini

75 leaves (7 blank), 9 5/8 x 6 ½ inches; 245 x 164 mm, written in Italian semi-cursive script  in brown ink, title-page within an architectural frame in pen-and-ink and green wash, original foliation in ink in Hebrew letters, modern foliation in pencil; light browning, minor spotting and staining. Black library buckram.

Emmanuel Colonna of Turin, 1736–1737 (owner's inscriptions,  on fols. 73v and 74v) — Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 78)

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 346)

Contents

Fols. 1r-49v: Sefer Sha’arei Zion by Nathan Nata Hannover (1620–1683). Prayers with kabbalistic interpretations. Copied from the edition printed in Prague, 1662, with the approbations.

Fols. 51r-54r: Kabbalistic intentions for blowing the shofar.

Fols. 55r-67v: This manuscript is one of only two extant copies of Megalleh Amukkot, a kabbalistic work based on the writings of Hayyim Vital and the book Kanfei Yonah. Not to be confused with the book by the same title by Nathan Spiro. The only other recorded copy is in London, British Library Ms. Add. 26980.

Fol. 69r: Magical charms. Mentions Menahem of London.

Fol. 70r-v: Extracts on conjugal relations culled from various kabbalistic works.

This manuscript was copied by Abraham Samson ben Israel Levi Fubini whose colophon is found on fol. 49v.  The scribe, a pupil of the kabbalist Benjamin Kohen of Reggio, copied several other manuscripts and corresponded with contemporary scholars in Italy.